On to Independent Publishing – the accepted term for “self publishing” among professional authors – is exploding. And why not? Technology today is lowering the cost, making printing one book as cost effective as printing 1000 books. New distribution agreements are being negotiated daily. And new authors should know by now that they have to market themselves anyway – so why not retain control of their product?

And by control I mean book title, cover design, word count and pen name – all components that can be determined and changed by a traditional publisher. After all, the free market will allow good books to rise over time, and bad ones will stink. I mean sink.

The biggest problem with newbie authors self-publishing is that they don’t do adequate research before they sign with a vanity press. If they hope to make any money at all, they have to keep their investment at a MINIMUM and their distribution at a MAXIMUM.

For example, a 20-minute internet search & sample of some self publishers (I say “self” not “independent” because these publishers prey on the amateur) and their costs turned up these horrifying package prices:

Infinity Publishing: $500

Dellarte Press: $600 – $1600

Author House: $600 – $4000

iUniverse: $600 – $4200

Xulon Press: $800 – $4300

Master-Press: $900 – $2000

Dog Ear Publishing: $1100 – $3500

XLibris: $1149 – $2500

And THEN there is the royalty that the press takes from every sale on top of the start-up prices! And these presses usually have minimum sales requirements meaning if they don’t sell, you have to buy them. What are these poor authors thinking? This investment will NEVER be recouped.

But there is a sane and profitable alternative for those who want to independently publish their books: CreateSpace by Amazon.